KIT

Michael Perry grew up in small family businesses and became obsessed with helping entrepreneurs survive. After being recognized by Forbes as one of the top 30 under 30 in marketing, he founded KIT in October 2013 to solve a fundamental problem: small business owners needed marketing help but couldn't afford to hire employees.

KIT's initial product was a web application that connected to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to harvest engagement data and build smarter ad campaigns. But it fell flat. "We got our shit kicked out of us for a year," Michael recalls. The team was excited about the technology, but small business owners weren't adopting it. A turning point came during a phone call with a struggling store owner who said he "would rather do his taxes than post on Facebook." This revelation changed everything.

Instead of building better technology, KIT pivoted to address the real problem: small business owners needed someone else to *do* the marketing work. In January 2015, Michael launched KIT's SMS-based product—a digital employee that could be texted commands to manage Facebook ads, Instagram ads, email marketing, and more. This became 100% of the business. The team integrated with e-commerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, Etsy, Big Cartel, and Tiktail, allowing customers to connect their store and manage all marketing through text messages.

The SMS product resonated immediately. By January 2016, KIT had 2,000 paying customers with an average revenue per user of $19. In September 2015, the team launched a Pro tier ($25/month vs. $10/month) that exclusively allowed Instagram ad management. Within 30 days, 10% of customers upgraded, jumping ARP from $11 to higher tiers. Michael's team spent all their marketing budget on Facebook ads, achieving a $21 customer acquisition cost—remarkably efficient given the $20 ARPU and 4% monthly churn rate. One critical decision: refusing to take a commission on ad spend. Michael realized that charging a percentage would psychologically deter customers. "If I have a hundred bucks to spend and 10 goes to you and I don't even know you, I just don't even start a conversation."

As of January 2016, KIT was generating $30k MRR with ambitious 2016 targets of $150-200k MRR. The company had raised $1M+ in convertible notes and maintained a lean 9-person team with only $30-40k monthly net burn. Michael was planning a priced round to fund aggressive growth. His philosophy: "Championship or bust." The company was on track to hit $360k ARR with momentum building from newly launched KIT Pro and growing demand from e-commerce sellers preparing for seasonal selling peaks.